NationStates Jolt Archive

I was just thinking only 5 minutes ago about Earthquakes from the recent little tremor in England.
Which led me to the fact i know so little about Tectonic plates, so i had an idea.
With so much interest in space travel, why don't we consider Earth travel?

As in digging a really deep tunnel network, to move to far off countries.
I'm vaguely aware of the massively high pressures of gravity, and heat the closer you get to the earths core but do any of us really know what's there?

It's fascinating to think there's so much we don't know about our own planet and already space travel as an idea has more well popularity to it.

Travel through the centre of the Earth would be far cheaper than space travel. I also hear of the vast amounts spent on space programmes and they're usually huge amounts of cash, so i suppose another question would be if this was possible would it be cheaper than current space travel ideas?

I mean according so some theories i've heard gravity pulls you down, the further down you go the harder it pulls, so why not just make a system that takes advantage of this?
you might even be able to use this extra gravity to catapult space rockets through the earth into outer space.
Or even a discovery team to go down below?

So what i'm asking you (i know i've already asked about 5 questions) the main one is, why hasn't earth travel been attemtped or even a discovery team to see what's down there?

{i apologise for my lack of knowledge for deep-down earth stuff, please correct me if i'm wrong about some of my ideas}
Could call the first one the mud express.

Well one reason why Space travel is mor feasible is the fact that there isn't a planet in our way. all we have to worry about is the atmosphere which we could easily travle through. plus what would you do with all of the raw material you get creating this tunnel. and again how would you travle through the core which is A.) realy hot, and 2.)liquid, it would be like creating a tunnel across the ocean... if the ocean were in outerspace where we couldn't use conventional means of construction.... all of a sudden space travle seams like an easier answer.

The instability, coupled with a lack of oxygen and a crust only 80km thick makes this idea unfeasible unfortunately. In my eyes.

But go for it! You might actually be the person to come up with a relevant idea as to how we could create a quick tunnel to China.

Also, no, you cannot catapult things through earth into space. You'd reach a maximum speed at the core and then, once you're exiting, you'd lose speed again resulting in absolutely no net gain at best, and a net lost usually due to friction.

Finally (edit yet again), it has been attempted, but it's not that easy to dig deep down into the crust.

I mean according so some theories i've heard gravity pulls you down, the further down you go the harder it pulls, so why not just make a system that takes advantage of this?

No, gravity pulls you towards other mass. If you would be in the center of the earth, provided you weren't crushed or melted to death, there would be almost no gravity pulling on you (well, there would but in all directions so they would all cancel each other out). The deeper you go the less gravity you would experience as a result of this. (I'm assuming the mass of the earth doesn't move and is equally distributed)

you might even be able to use this extra gravity to catapult space rockets through the earth into outer space.


No, if you dug a theoretical tunnel trough the center of the earth and you would jump in it (assuming there was no friction) you would appear on the other end of the tunnel and then go back to where you started, this would repeat itself for ever (again, if there were no air resistance). In reality you would do pretty much the same but every time a little bit less far until you stopped in the middle where you would be weightless.

I think more research should be done into these mysterious black holes that suck in money

no I don't mean women :p

Well one reason why Space travel is mor feasible is the fact that there isn't a planet in our way. all we have to worry about is the atmosphere which we could easily travle through. plus what would you do with all of the raw material you get creating this tunnel. and again how would you travle through the core which is A.) realy hot, and 2.)liquid, it would be like creating a tunnel across the ocean... if the ocean were in outerspace where we couldn't use conventional means of construction.... all of a sudden space travle seams like an easier answer.

Well we could try using current heat shield protectors from space ships to go down
But how do we know what's down there if we haven't been to the earth's core?

The instability, coupled with a lack of oxygen and a crust only 80km thick makes this idea unfeasible unfortunately. In my eyes.

But go for it! You might actually be the person to come up with a relevant idea as to how we could create a quick tunnel to China.

Also, no, you cannot catapult things through earth into space. You'd reach a maximum speed at the core and then, once you're exiting, you'd lose speed again resulting in absolutely no net gain at best, and a net lost usually due to friction.

Finally (edit yet again), it has been attempted, but it's not that easy to dig deep down into the crust.

What i'd like to know is why we haven't tried harder to see what's down there, then maybe we could gain a better understanding of volcanic lava flows.
Okay so the catapult idea isn't great.
But what instead of a tunnel was built a collapsing passageway? that way you wouldn't need to move so much waste material out to make the tunnel, just move it a little for a fraction of a second to shoot down to earth's core then move outward to your desired destination.
I think if we discovered what metal could survive at such deep levels of earth we could mine these and use them to make better equipment for various things, including the earth-shuttle.
What if we used the gravity to go down, and to gain speed, you attach a special energy container that works by taking in heat, so once you get to the hotter parts you move faster.
You wouldn't need to necessarily send humans down, perhaps just a little probe or something small with a rat in it to see if it could survive the journey.
With Isidoors comment, i think you could make something that would prevent you from being sucked back down to earth, but perhaps the disruption to the earth could cause problems, still we don't know untill we've tried

To gain funds just cut all projects to space travel and use it to try to go through earth, which if it worked could be cheaper.
I mean it's earth we should learn about first before we go off to other planets, then we'd have more knowledge about well earth deep down.

It's not really feasible. The heat and pressure would make it an uneconomic alternative to surface travel. You'd be surprised at the relatively short distances you'd need to travel to reach temperatures that would boil water (at regular surface pressure, of course). Travelling through the center is suicide due to the vast amounts of molten rock and metal.

Overall, it would be too expensive to create feasible transportation in depths you're aiming for.

What i'd like to know is why we haven't tried harder to see what's down there, then maybe we could gain a better understanding of volcanic lava flows.
Okay so the catapult idea isn't great.
But what instead of a tunnel was built a collapsing passageway? that way you wouldn't need to move so much waste material out to make the tunnel, just move it a little for a fraction of a second to shoot down to earth's core then move outward to your desired destination.
I think if we discovered what metal could survive at such deep levels of earth we could mine these and use them to make better equipment for various things, including the earth-shuttle.
What if we used the gravity to go down, and to gain speed, you attach a special energy container that works by taking in heat, so once you get to the hotter parts you move faster.
You wouldn't need to necessarily send humans down, perhaps just a little probe or something small with a rat in it to see if it could survive the journey.

To gain funds just cut all projects to space travel and use it to try to go through earth, which if it worked could be cheaper.
I mean it's earth we should learn about first before we go off to other planets, then we'd have more knowledge about well earth deep down.

I think we know pretty much about the debts of the earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_Earth), It might be easier and more interesting to explore the ocean.

It's not really feasible. The heat and pressure would make it an uneconomic alternative to surface travel. You'd be surprised at the relatively short distances you'd need to travel to reach temperatures that would boil water (at regular surface pressure, of course). Travelling through the center is suicide due to the vast amounts of molten rock and metal.

Overall, it would be too expensive to create feasible transportation in depths you're aiming for.

What if someone made a device that used the extreme heat, and dispensed it as energy to travel?
That could work, but yes the tunneling idea might be tricky, what if lasers were used instead?

But how do we know what's down there if we haven't been to the earth's core?

What i'd like to know is why we haven't tried harder to see what's down there, then maybe we could gain a better understanding of volcanic lava flows.

We already have a fairly good idea. This is mainly a result of calculating the mass of the earth, as well as calculating the torque and magnetic forces. They can give us fairly good approximations. Not perfect, of course, but I can tell you, for example, that:

There is a crust 40km thick that consists of about 0.4% of the earth's mass.

There is a mantle that consists of about 67.1% of the earth's mass.
There is a liquid iron outer core that consists of about 30.8% of the earth's mass.
Those two liquid parts (mantle and outer core) are part of the reason why there's a magnetic field around the earth and why it changes.
There is a solid inner core of about 1.7% of the earth's mass.

All that is a subject matter of geology, which I suggest studying in depth as I myself am trying with a single course on the subject.

But what instead of a tunnel was built a collapsing passageway? that way you wouldn't need to move so much waste material out to make the tunnel, just move it a little for a fraction of a second to shoot down to earth's core then move outward to your desired destination.

It wouldn't be energy efficient - Moving the mass would require so much energy in itself and be so dangerous that flying an airplane around would be better.

It would be faster though.

I think if we discovered what metal could survive at such deep levels of earth we could mine these and use them to make better equipment for various things, including the earth-shuttle.

I don't quite understand what you mean by survive. Elaborate?

What if we used the gravity to go down, and to gain speed, you attach a special energy container that works by taking in heat, so once you get to the hotter parts you move faster.

Certainly a good idea. Already applied in geothermal energy, although that's still not going beneath the crust.

To gain funds just cut all projects to space travel and use it to try to go through earth, which if it worked could be cheaper.

Space travel >>> Earth travel.

It's easier, the results are far easier to discern and we'd possibly get more living space.

Well we could try using current heat shield protectors from space ships to go downIt would never fly. (ha!)
But how do we know what's down there if we haven't been to the earth's core?Seismic readings. Interestingly enough, you can tell the difference between materials with the proper equipment.



What i'd like to know is why we haven't tried harder to see what's down there, then maybe we could gain a better understanding of volcanic lava flows.Volcanic flows are hot enough to melt rock (completely). That's a good deal hotter than what an atmospheric reentry has to deal with.
Okay so the catapult idea isn't great.
But what instead of a tunnel was built a collapsing passageway? that way you wouldn't need to move so much waste material out to make the tunnel, just move it a little for a fraction of a second to shoot down to earth's core then move outward to your desired destination.You can't tunnel through liquid.
I think if we discovered what metal could survive at such deep levels of earth we could mine these and use them to make better equipment for various things, including the earth-shuttle.What do you mean with "survive"? Iron survives in the Earth's core in large quantities. It just isn't solid anymore.

To gain funds just cut all projects to space travel and use it to try to go through earth, which if it worked could be cheaper.
I mean it's earth we should learn about first before we go off to other planets, then we'd have more knowledge about well earth deep down.Economic gain from space travel is plausible (see satellites). This is much less the case with digging into the earth. And why would it be cheaper?

What if someone made a device that used the extreme heat, and dispensed it as energy to travel?How do you think engines work?
That could work, but yes the tunneling idea might be tricky, what if lasers were used instead?Tunneling will be damn tricky, seeing at what kind of pressures we're dealing with. Given of course, you could develop a laser strong enough to burn through rock that is rather hot to begin with without using too much energy and a means by which you can tunnel through liquid molten rock and metal.

It's pretty much impossible. The Russians could barely get bast 7 miles or since their drills were getting too hot, even after refrigerating their drills.

<snip good reasons for why earth travel is not a good idea>
okay

<Snip more reasons why earth travel wouldn't work>
okay
I guess you've convinced me that this just wouldn't work, and even if it did it could cause huge disruption to various things deep down.
Thanks for your comments guys, i guess it was just an illusion.

okay

okay
I guess you've convinced me that this just wouldn't work, and even if it did it could cause huge disruption to various things deep down.
Thanks for your comments guys, i guess it was just an illusion.

It was, however, an interesting idea. Those are always good to get.

It was, however, an interesting idea. Those are always good to get.

Perhaps, but most ideas i have, have already been thought of or dissmissed. I take it that's what politics is for, to realise ideas and make them happen or not happen.
All these future ideas, already have experts in the field's needed not sure why i bother to think of them, except for making interesting stories.

Perhaps, but most ideas i have, have already been thought of or dissmissed. I take it that's what politics is for, to realise ideas and make them happen or not happen.
All these future ideas, already have experts in the field's needed not sure why i bother to think of them, except for making interesting stories.Nothing wrong with interesting stories. There's plenty of unrealistic fiction out there, but sometimes you have to ignore a few things to enjoy an otherwise excellent story. Zombie movies are a good example for this.